Crawford County BEST Awards are Wednesday at Galion High School

GALION — The Crawford County Business/Education Advisory Council will hold its annual Crawford County BEST Awards program Wednesday at Galion High School. The program starts at 7 p.m. Pre-program entertainment provided by the Galion High School Jazz Band begins at 6:30 p.m.

The recognition/awards program honors outstanding effort by public school students and teachers throughout Crawford County.

Two students from each of Crawford County’s seven high schools (Buckeye Central, Bucyrus, Colonel Crawford, Crestline, Galion, Wynford, and Fairway-Waycraft), and two Crawford County seniors from Pioneer Career & Technology Center, will receive BEST Awards.

“The awards are given to students exhibiting outstanding levels of effort, responsibility and citizenship,” said event organizer Vickie Hunt. “All students are eligible including college-bound, career-bound, and special education students.”

Each student recipient is asked to name an educator who has been especially inspirational and encouraging in furthering the student’s educational goals. The students may choose any educator from preschool through high school, including administrators, coaches, guidance counselors, and other personnel.

The BEST Awards recognize students who exhibit outstanding work ethic by continually doing their best, putting forth effort, committing to the responsibilities they undertake, being cooperative and working well on a team, and being reliable and trustworthy. The Business Education Advisory Council has concluded that it is these characteristics which are most sought after by employers and that there is a need to emphasize them.

This year’s Tilson Award recipient, nominated by the Galion City School District, is Galion Building and Loan Bank. The Tilson Award is given annually to a Crawford County business that shows commitment and support of education, support and participation in partnerships, mentoring, job shadowing and field trips, serves on committees that advance the goals of education, commitment to the advancement of school levies and provides financial support or support services that advance educational goals or extra-curricular activities (i.e. yearbook, academic awards, scholarships, drama).

“Galion Building & Loan Bank has been a longtime supporter of our students’ pursuit of educational excellence,” said Galion superintendent Jim Grubbs said. “They have donated nearly 5,400 calculators, which includes each student’s name engraved on each calculator, to the entire sixth grade class since 1992, and we are very grateful for their incredible generosity and support for the education of Galion students.”

The Galion Building and Loan Bank has also participated in the annual “Teach Children to Save Day” program for Galion first graders and has supported Junior Achievement by sending volunteers into classrooms to teach children about business. The bank has also been a longtime supporter of Galion athletics through many annual sponsorships.